Iraq: The Crime of the Century

. . . Giving evidence before the arms-to-Iraq enquiry, [Mark] Higson was the only
British official commended by Lord Justice Scott for telling the truth. The
price he paid was the loss of his health and marriage and constant
surveillance by spooks. He ended up living on benefits in a Birmingham
bedsitter where he suffered a seizure, struck his head and died alone.
Whistleblowers are often heroes; he was one.

He came to mind when I saw a picture in the paper of another Foreign Office
official, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who was Tony Blair's ambassador to the
United Nations in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. More than
anyone, it was Sir Jeremy who tried every trick to find a UN cover for the
bloodbath to come. Indeed, this was his boast to the Chilcot enquiry on 27
November, where he described the invasion as "legal but of questionable
legitimacy". How clever. In the picture he wore a smirk.

Under international law, "questionable legitimacy" does not exist. An attack
on a sovereign state is a crime. This was made clear by Britain's chief law
officer, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, before his arm was twisted, and
by the Foreign Office's own legal advisers and subsequently by the
secretary-general of the United Nations. The invasion is the crime of the
21st century. During 17 years of assault on a defenceless civilian
population, veiled with weasel monikers like "sanctions" and "no fly zones"
and "building democracy", more people have died in Iraq than during the peak
years of the slave trade. . . .